The Conroe ISD 2001 Facility Planning Commitee's Final Report

Published 6:00 pm, Sunday, November 30, 2003

FINAL REPORT TO THE CISD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

November 14, 2003

Summary of recommendations and report

After reviewing and assessing the capital needs at each school in the Conroe Independent School District, the CISD 2001 District Facility Planning Committee recommends that approximately $5 million of the remaining 2001 Bond Funds be used for those projects identified on Exhibit A to this report. The Committee recommends that any remaining 2001 Bond Funds be used for those projects identified on Exhibit B to this report. The Committee recommends that the Board prioritize these projects based upon the criteria described below.

The District advised us that recent demographic studies showed previously unexpected growth in projected student population which will result in the need for at least two (2) new secondary schools and five (5) lower grade level schools within the next 3-5 years. The Committee strongly encourages the Board to immediately begin plans for a new bond referendum to meet these needs. Assuming that an appropriate independent committee confirms the need for these campuses and assuming the design and construction of each new campus will take approximately two years, the Board should move swiftly in order to be able to provide enough classroom space for our expected student population. The Committee further believes that the addition of the Hwy 242 high school combined with the need for at least two more new secondary schools makes the South County Stadium an integral and imperative part of this next bond referendum.

Background and Analysis

In August of this year, our Committee presented its interim report to the CISD Board of Directors. The Committee's primary recommendations were: (1) that the Board not spend any more 2001 Bond Funds on the proposed South County Stadium but, instead, use those funds to address capital needs at existing campuses; and (2) that the Board allow the Committee to continue its investigation and analysis of "critical needs", general needs, and desirable improvements/enhancements to facilities within the District. The Board accepted our Interim Report and allowed the Committee to continue its work. We thank the Board for its confidence in our efforts.

While the Committee moved forward with its investigation, the Board received new and revised demographic projections which revealed critical needs for additional classroom space in schools throughout the District. In response to these urgent needs, the Board authorized the expenditure of approximately $3.7 million in previously unallocated 2001 Bond Funds to provide additional educational and academic space at these campuses and to respond to increased costs for construction at Washington Junior High. We commend the Board for its vigilant attention to the District's growing and evolving needs and applaud its prompt action to build additional classrooms as soon as possible. The Board also voted to spend approximately $2.6 million to purchase more busses in response to desires expressed by District residents for superior transportation services.

During this same time, the Board put several 2001 Bond projects out to bid. With many of the 2001 Bond projects now under contract, the District advised the Committee that it felt comfortable reducing the original $5,000,000 contingency fund to $3,000,000 for the remaining 2001 Bond projects.

The combination of these events left approximately $8,000,000 in unallocated 2001 Bond Funds. It was in light of these factors that the Committee continued its investigations and prepared this Final Report.

The Committee's Review Process.

The Committee asked for and received a list of proposed projects from each campus principal and from the District's staff. These projects ranged from items described as "critical needs" to those listed as merely desirable. As noted in our Interim Report, District officials estimated the cost to complete the self described "critical needs" on this initial list of projects at over $24,000,000. This total did not include any funds for the proposed South County Stadium.

The Committee met nine times over the five months it spent working on this project. Through the course of its on site visits and in reliance upon recommendations from the District's staff, the Committee committed itself to identifying those needs which were most deserving of the limited funds available from the 2001 Bond Funds. The Committee chose which schools to visit and it was never denied access to any part of any of the campuses it visited.

As the Committee visited campuses throughout the District and compared the conditions and needs of various schools, we determined that many of the projects described as "critical needs" were simply not needed or could not be justified due to their cost. In contrast to our expectation of touring schools in need of massive capital infusions, we were pleased to find every school we toured was clean, well maintained, and structurally sound. After removing millions of dollars of projects from the original lists submitted to us, we decided that the needed projects could be separated into three broad categories:

(1) Safety - projects that directly impact the safety of students at specific campuses;

(2) Security items that directly impact the security of students on each campus including issues such as whether a school was designed so that its staff can monitor all visitors entering the campus;

(3) Quality of Education or Facility Needs those needs not directly related to safety or security.

Through out the course of its efforts, the Committee repeatedly requested new information from the District, asked District personnel to provide it with a multitude of expense estimates, and asked District personnel to repackage, reformulate, and redesign the information presented to the Committee so we could more completely understand and analyze the data. As in its Interim Report, we express our gratitude to the District for the innumerable hours they devoted to responding to our various requests.

Recommendations Regarding 2001 Bonds Funds.

The CISD 2001 District Facility Planning Committee recommends that approximately $5 million of the 2001 Bond Funds be used for those projects identified on Exhibit A to this Report. This includes every project we categorized as a Safety or Security issue and includes many, but not all, of the items relating to Quality of Education or Facility Needs. The Committee recommends that any remaining 2001 Bond Funds, including any unspent contingency funds, be used for those projects identified on Exhibit B to this Report. Those projects that we believe deserve the Board's attention, but which we did not believe could be funded through the remaining 2001 Bond Funds, are listed on Exhibit C to this Report.

The Committee recommends that the District apply the following general criteria when determining in what sequence these projects should be done. We recognize that these criteria may, in practice, overlap or conflict with each other when applied to specific projects. The Committee recommends that the Board use is its own professional judgment when these criteria overlap and that it make each decision on a case by case basis. Our general criteria are as follows:

(1) Implement those projects that impact the safety and security of students first;

(2)Incorporate as many projects as possible into existing construction plans at each campus;

(3)On each campus, implement as many projects as possible simultaneously;

(4)Implement as many similar or related projects across multiple campuses simultaneously when doing so will result in cost savings; and

(5)With regard to those items on Exhibit B, the Committee recommends that they be implemented in the order listed on Exhibit B.

Recommendations Regarding Future Construction

According to District sources, recent demographic data indicates that the population in Montgomery County in general, an